Ruttler Mills PLLC

Seattle Patent Attorneys and Trademark Lawyers

Update on Fast Track Patent Examination Option

Posted Wednesday, June 9, 2010 by Jim Ruttler

The USPTO’s proposed fast track examination option, which would result in examination within around four months and an issued patent within less than a year, has taken another step forward. The Patent Office has published the following further details and is holding a public meeting on July 20, 2010 at 1:30pm. Comments can also be submitted electronically to 3trackscomments@uspto.gov. If this continues to move forward, this new option could become a reality by early 2011.

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Prioritized Examination (Track I): For some applicants with a currently financed plan to commercialize or exploit their innovation or a need to have more timely examination results to seek additional funding, more rapid examination is necessary. While some programs are currently available to prioritize applications (e.g., the accelerated examination program and the petition to make special program), some applicants neither want to perform the search and analysis required by the accelerated examination program nor can they seek special status based on the conditions set forth in 37 CFR 1.102. For such applicants, the USPTO is proposing optional prioritized examination upon applicant’s request and payment of a cost recovery fee. A request for prioritized examination may be made in a USPTO first-filed application at any time and may be made in any other application only after receipt of a copy of the search report, if any, and first action on the merits from the intellectual property office in which the relied-upon application was filed and an appropriate reply to that action in the application filed in the USPTO. On granting of prioritized status, the application would be placed in the queue for prioritized examination.The fee would be set at a level to provide the resources necessary to increase the work output of the USPTO so that the aggregate pendency of non-prioritized applications would not increase due to work being done on the prioritized application. The fee would also be set to recover any other additional costs associated with processing the prioritized application. For example, if work output is to be increased by hiring new examiners, then the fee for prioritized examination would include the cost of hiring and training a sufficient number of new employees to offset the production work used to examine prioritized applications. Under the USPTO’s current statutory authority, the USPTO is not permitted to discount the fee for small entity applicants. Should the USPTO’s authority to set fees be enhanced, it is anticipated that the USPTO would discount this fee for small and micro entity applicants, given the substantial fee that would need to be charged to recover all of the costs associated with the contemplated service.

The USPTO is also considering limiting the number of claims in a prioritized application to four independent and thirty total claims. In addition, the USPTO is considering requiring early publication of prioritized applications so that applications would be published shortly after a request for prioritization is granted, or eighteen months from the earliest filing date claimed, whichever is earlier.

All applications prioritized on payment of a fee, or accelerated or advanced out-of-turn under existing programs, would be placed in a single queue for examination on the merits and *31766 would be taken up out-of-turn relative to other new or amended applications. The goals for handling applications in this queue would be to provide a first Office action on the merits within four months and a final disposition within twelve months of prioritized status being granted. If this process is implemented, the USPTO anticipates that it would provide statistics on its progress in meeting these goals on its Internet Web site.

To maximize the benefit of this track, applicant should consider one or more of the following: (1) Acquiring a good knowledge of the state of the prior art to be able to file the application with a clear specification having a complete schedule of claims from the broadest that the applicant believes he is entitled in view of the state of the prior art to the narrowest that the applicant is willing to accept; (2) filing replies that are completely responsive to the prior Office action and within the reply period (shortened) set in the Office action; and (3) being prepared to conduct interviews with the examiner.

An applicant-controlled up to 30-month queue prior to docketing (Track III): Some applicants file an application just prior to the statutory bar date but before a commercially viable plan for exploitation of the innovation has been developed or financed. To better provide for the timing of examination that such applicants desire and to provide a similar time period to that provided internationally, the USPTO is considering permitting any applicant in an application that does not claim benefit of a prior-filed foreign application or prior non-provisional application to select, on filing or in reply to a notice to file missing parts, an applicant-controlled up to 30-month queue prior to docketing for examination. In order to avoid delays in notice to the public, any application requesting Track III must also be published as an 18- month patent application publication. An application granted this status would be placed in a queue for applicant to request examination and pay the examination fee with the surcharge (if not already paid) within thirty months of the actual filing date of the application or any relied-upon provisional application (i.e., to which benefit is claimed under 35 U.S.C. 119(e)). Failure to request examination within the 30-month period would result in abandonment of the application. The request for examination and examination fee (and surcharge) would be due on the 30-month date but could be submitted early (e.g., on filing of the application) with a request that the application remain in the pre-examination queue for a period of time (e.g., up to 30 months from filing). On expiration of the time period, the application would be placed in the queue for examination.

On receipt of the request for this queue, the USPTO would determine if the application was ready for publication as a patent application publication (except for the receipt of the examination fee) and determine if any request for nonpublication made on filing had been rescinded. If both conditions were met, the application would be placed in a queue to await a request for examination and payment of the examination fee. If the application was not ready for publication, a requirement to place the application in condition for publication would be made and, once satisfied, the application would be placed in the 30-month queue. The request for examination and payment may be made at any time during the 30-month period. If no request is made within the 30-month period, the application would be held abandoned. The examination fee and the surcharge may be paid within the 30-month period or may be submitted after a timely request for examination is filed on notice of non-payment by the USPTO, along with any required extension of time fees.

Upon receipt of the examination request and fee, the application would be placed in the queue for examination, but the receipt date of the examination request would be used as the “date in queue.” Thus, the application will be taken up for examination as if the request date was the application’s actual filing date. If applicants determine that more rapid examination is desirable, then they may request (and pay the required fee) for prioritized examination while the application is in the queue for examination.

PTA Offset: Currently, the USPTO is considering a rule to offset any positive PTA accrued in a Track III application when applicant requests that the application be examined after the aggregate average period to issue a first Office action on the merits. For example, if the aggregate average time to issue a first Office action is 20 months and applicant requests that the application be examined at month 30, the proposed PTA reduction would be 10 months beginning on the expiration of the 20-month period and ending on the date on which applicant requested examination to begin. The overlap with the aggregate average period when the USPTO would not be able to have issued a first Office action on the merits would not be treated as an offsetting reduction.

PTA Offset for Foreign Delay: Similarly, for an application in any of the three tracks that claims foreign priority, the USPTO is considering a rule to offset positive PTA accrued in the application when applicant files the required documents (that include a copy of the search report, if any, and first office action from the foreign office and an appropriate reply to the foreign office action as if the foreign office action was made in the application filed at the USPTO) after the aggregate average period to issue a first Office action on the merits. For example, if the aggregate average time to issue a first Office action is 20 months and applicant submits the required documents 30 months after the filing of the application, then the proposed PTA reduction would be 10 months beginning on the expiration of the 20-month period and ending on the date of the filing of the required documents. Thus, delays by foreign offices beyond the aggregate average time for the USPTO to issue a first Office action on the merits would be an offsetting reduction against any positive PTA accrued by the delay in issuing a first Office action while the USPTO awaits the preparation of a search report and first action by the office of first filing.

In Tracks I and II, if the U.S. application claims the benefit of a prior-filed foreign application, and the relied-upon foreign application is abandoned prior to an action on the merits being made available, applicant must notify the USPTO and request that the application be treated for examination queuing purposes as if the foreign priority claim had not been made. The USPTO is considering making the failure to notify the USPTO within three months of the abandonment in the foreign office trigger a PTA offset as the USPTO would not appreciate the need to treat the application as if first-filed in the USPTO until such notice is given. Similarly, if the office of first filing has a practice of not producing actions on the merits, applicant would need to notify the USPTO that the application should be treated for examination queuing purposes as if the foreign priority claim had not been made.